An optical disk player and an optical disk recorder or a hard disk recorder are well known as an image reproducing device reproducing an image signal that includes video/audio information coded and recorded on an optical disk or a hard disk, etc. which are information recording media, and as an image recording/reproducing device by which an image signal that includes coded video/audio information can be recorded and reproduced.
Generally, in the image reproducing device and the image recording/reproducing device whose information recording media are disks, a considerably long time period is required before a reproducing or recording operation starts from an electric-power-off state. The reason is that such image reproducing device and image recording/reproducing device are configured with many devices; therefore, when the operation is started by switching from the power-off state to the power-on state, until all of the devices reach the normal-operation state, neither the reproducing nor the recording can be performed. Therefore, the time required for reaching the state in which the reproducing or the recording can be performed after switching to the power-on state is rate-controlled by the rise time of a device whose rise time is longest among those of all devices.
Especially, in the image reproducing device and the image recording/reproducing device in which a disk such as an optical disk and a hard disk is used as an information recording medium, a considerably long time period is required before the rotation speed of the disk rises up to a predetermined level at which normal recording and reproducing can be performed; therefore, a problem occurs that a user has to wait a considerably long time period after switching the device to the power-on state.
Accordingly, in order to shorten the waiting time for the user, by continuously supplying electric power to the image reproducing device and the image recording/reproducing device so as to continuously rotate the disk, the responsiveness is improved and the user's convenience is increased.
A recent image reproducing device and image recording/reproducing device have a function for cooperating with a display device such as a television set connected thereto for displaying a reproduced coded image. For example, an image recording/reproducing device is known that can be automatically set to the power-on state in conjunction with the power-on state of the display device (For example, Instruction Manual: Panasonic DVD recorder “DMR-XW31”, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., p 112, “HDMI Connection”).
Regarding the image recording/reproducing device, by utilizing HDMI-CEC (high-definition multimedia interface-consumer electronics control), the image recording/reproducing device can be powered on in conjunction with the power-on operation of the display device. Therefore, during a period in which the user watches the display device connected via HDMI to the image recording/reproducing device, even if the image that the user watches is not what is reproduced from the image recording/reproducing device, but what is from another source such as a digital broadcast tuner, because the image recording/reproducing device has been set to be the power-on state, the user can instantaneously reproduce image signals recorded on the disk of the image recording/reproducing device, to watch without being kept waiting for a long time.